What AI cannot do

I get it. AI is pretty fascinating. Being in the digital marketing space, I'm constantly bombarded with information on AI. Hey, create a website in thirty seconds! Hey...create a presentation in no time at all! There is AI for everything. AI that manipulates voices to elicit any emotion, AI that generates high-resolution images to tell whatever story the user has in mind. AI has taken efficiency to another level.

I am a fan of AI I guess...

Just to be clear, there is a use of AI that I do not appreciate... using AI to write assignments, blogs, and podcast scripts and then passing them on as your own work...that, as a creative, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's true, ChatGPT can come up with a blog post for the books, perfectly written, perfectly intonated... flawless in every way. But that's the thing...perfection and creativity cannot coexist. Perfection follows the rules while creativity tests the boundaries. So, to all those creatives who worry about AI taking over their jobs, that is not going to happen, at least that's what I think.

Here's why, think of your favourite blog, podcast, artist...what makes them unique. Truth is, creativity embodies some level of quirkiness that is unique to the creator...a quirkiness that no form of AI can duplicate. Embrace your quirky and be authentic...you have something that AI doesn't, the beauty of imperfection!

Of course, many people have reacted differently to AI since the conversation stirred up. In this blog post, I want to share my thoughts on the anxieties that have come up about AI taking over the world. I am on social media a lot, I'd like to think that it's because I use it for work, but in a real sense, social media is something that I love. That, I know, is a bold statement to make in a world that either worships or demonizes social media. That is true about many other things...but let's not even go there.

Being on social media as much as I am, you see a lot. It all started with Jamaican singer Iniko's hit song Jericho....which, by the way, I love! What Iniko did was take the hard-to-grasp, incomprehensible concept of AI and create art that was relatable and easy to understand. That, my friends, is art. Anyway... the song went viral and became a trend everywhere in the world. It presents AI as a powerful unbeatable force as stated in the chorus,

"When I move it's an earthquake rumble...I will never ever fall, never stumble! And I don't need to be humble...walls fall down like Jericho crumble "

It is typical of human beings to be fearful of anything we consider more powerful than ourselves. Fear is what fuels our obsession with aliens and UFOs...fear is what fuels what I call "modern spirituals" ... channelling forces higher than ourselves for protection. We are driven by fear, so we are always fighting about something...for something. With aliens, which I honestly don't care to think about, I get it...it is unknown and that can be scary. With spirituality (and yes, I do believe that there is a spiritual realm which is as real as, if not more real than the physical world) I would also understand the fear, of knowing that there are powerful forces that influence our thoughts, actions and every aspect of our lives. However, I don't get it with AI. We created AI. We created the movies that show how AI will take over the world. We are drinking our own poison.

What are we so afraid of?

Think about it. Are we afraid that AI will create so many amazing websites that will help businesses run more efficiently? Are we afraid that AI will make life so much easier for content creators? This is not me trying to invalidate anyone's emotions. Talk to me, what is causing all the paranoia?

My thoughts...

I think that our biggest fear is losing control. That the technology we created to serve us will grow and rule us instead. But how can we lose control when we have never been in control? If we really are in control, why can't we add hours to our days when we have a lot on our plate? If we really are in control, why are we yet to fully understand how the human body functions despite the thousands of years of research we've put into it? Sure, we choose what we'll eat for lunch and what career path we venture into...oh wait ...do we? I can't choose to have a steak for lunch if there's only two hundred shillings on my M-Pesa...and how could I possibly choose a career in digital marketing when I live in a remote village without internet access?

If we are going to get all worked up, it better be over the forces that are actually in control ...not AI.

Let me tell you what AI cannot do.

AI cannot speak a mountain into existence or cause a stream to spring up from the earth. AI cannot number the hairs on my head. AI cannot create anything out of nothing, it has been fed thousands of programs to function as it does. AI has a beginning and it sure can be destroyed. AI could probably name every person on earth but it could never know the desires of their hearts or what keeps them awake at night. AI can speak kind words but is not capable of love. AI can tell the speed of light, but nothing of its origin.

Show me an AI that can move the mountains and raise the dead. How do we get caught up in such trivial matters that we miss out on the miracles that lie right before our eyes? That the sun rises and sets every day and has never once failed, that a Jewish teacher who lived over two thousand years ago is still turning tables in 2023, that the ocean never goes beyond a certain point...all these wonders and mysteries that have remained unresolved for thousands of years and we're still obsessing over websites and PowerPoint presentations?

The force that should be causing us to fear and tremble is the force that declared, "Let there be light" and there was. The force spoke the galaxies into existence and filled the seas with life. The force that gave flight to the birds...the force that created you and me from clay and breathed life into our very lungs. No AI, no human being, no spirit, no alien (or whatever other sick fantasies we have) could ever match up to this one, nothing even comes close. He is incomparable, set apart, HOLY.

"For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and by Him, all things hold together. "

Colossians 1:16&17

Yet despite all the glory, all the authority, all the sovereignty, He chose to live among human beings, wretched and flawed, to reconcile us to Himself. We are the ones that rebelled, He didn't. We were not deserving of His grace, yet He came. And you'd think that we would receive him, right? No...in our hands He suffered a painful and shameful death. Yet in His dying moments, looking down at the people He had come to save, who at that moment were mocking Him, His heart was as full of compassion as ever. Forgiveness and invitation were what oozed out of Him as he was pressed and crushed. Fine wine!

We still reject Him to date, but His stance hasn't changed. He still stands with arms open wide offering love, forgiveness, freedom, peace, and salvation. While His ability to create the universe and everything in it in six days is more than I could ever comprehend...

It is His character that drives me to my knees, to fear and to tremble.